Indoor TV aerial for digital channels

Tixy

Hi, hope someone can advise

I need to have a TV in an upstairs room for a while. I have an integrated digital TV but there is no aerial point in this room. I have a very old indoor aerial and seperate plug-in amplifier (as in ancient, probably 15years old) and with this I am unable to pick up any digital channels and only fuzzy analogue channels.

I have seen that you can buy indoor aerials that say they work with digital - eg one on argos website for £15.

Will one of these substantially increase my chances of getting digital channels? compared to the old aerial?

The main tv/aerial on the roof has a good signal but as its only a short time requirement I don't think its worth getting a cable run/split from the roof aerial.

(if the answer is obvious to you then I'd be pleased if you could share it as obviously I don't know)

Thanks

blackfive

Tixy, If you're in an area with a very strong signal then you may be ok with an indoor aerial of that type with due consideration of any walls the signal will have to pass through to get to the aerial in the room. Perhaps another option to think about would be to install a high gain aerial in the roofspace (if you have one) and then run the cable temporarily through a small hole in the ceiling you can polyfilla up at a later date. Although more expensive and more work than you anticipated, it'll give you a much better chance of picking up a good signal but still not guaranteed if not in an area of strong signal strength.

Tixy

Thanks blackfive

On the main TV I get a signal strength of 9 which I guess is pretty good. Never have any problems with the channels on that. That said I think the room is the wrong side of the house compared to where all the local external aerials point (the signal would go through 1 room in my house and maybe 1 room of next door (semi).

I'll perhaps buy an aerial and try it and if no good I'll try the aerial in a roof space idea - how difficult would this be to install? Could it be done myself (well delegated to someone in the family) or would it need a professional?

Cheers

blackfive

Its not too hard to fix an aerial in a roofspace. You'll need a high gain aerial, loft bracket, shielded coaxial cable and coaxial plugs for the TV connection.

But before you go out and buy anything look in your roofspace to ensure that you can locate the aerial in a suitable location without anything like water tanks in the line of sight. A great help in this is to find out the bearing of the transmitter and use a compass. Go to wolfban,com/cgi-bin/tvd,exe? (add www to begining and change commas to dots) to find the bearing onto your transmitter using your postcode. Make allowance for magnetic north though! Its best to go through a gable wall as then rainwater or snow on the tiles won't reduce the gain further but the tiles are ok if this isn't possible as you appear to have a strong signal.

Once you've found the location is ok you can buy the items you need. Then install the loft bracket either on a joist or rafter and fit the aerial to it. A crude but effective method to align it is to use the compass allowing for magnetic north (I didn't when I first did this and the bearing was obviously wrong!) and point the aerial up very slightly by about 1-2 degrees (you can use a spirit level then raise it slightly). Another way to align it is to point it in the approximate direction and plug in a SLX Digital Signal Finder (Screwfix item 58244 at £15) and look for the maximum signal. Attach the lead to the TV and check to see if all the Freeview channels can be accessed. If you find some can't be accessed then tweak the aerial by readjusting the bearing, but only very slightly, either left or right and recheck the channels.

I've got my own aerial in the roofspace and it has the advantage of not blocking out on the TV when a very high wind is blowing and the pole is rocking. I still get a maximum signal strength on the TV's and I'm mid way between two transmitters (Emley Moor and Bilsdale). Another plus factor is that there's no corrosion.